Churches throughout the diocese welcomed children of all ages to Vacation Bible School to grow their faith through summer fun and engaging activities.
VBS focuses on teaching Catholic traditions and values through interactive experiences that include music, games, crafts, and prayer.
At St. Francis de Sales Church in Purcellville, more than 200 campers attended the parish VBS July 14-18 with the theme, “Babylon: Daniel’s Courage in Captivity.”
Each day, students rotated through different stations doing skits based on the life of Daniel, crafts, games, church time, tribe time and snacks. The skits were written by parishioner Sheila Cowling and performed by a team of more than 20 volunteers.
Each year, campers support a special cause. This year they focused on helping a local family that resettled in Loudoun County after fleeing their home country. A guest speaker shared her story of leaving Pakistan, helping campers learn the value of compassion, courage and living their faith in action.
Janice Rees, a fifth-grade volunteer and an original organizer of the program, said her favorite part was seeing the number of kids who return year after year.
“We have one girl, she (has) special needs … she has been a camper since (she was) a little girl and now she’s leaving for college. She’s been a helper all the way through,” Rees said. “It’s a place for her, it’s a place for everybody.”
The week concluded with a Mass with campers and volunteers, followed by a family style picnic celebrating a faith-filled week.
At St. Leo the Great in Fairfax, more than 80 children from preschool through fifth grade attended VBS July 21-25. Each day was filled with crafts, games, music and faith formation centered around the liturgical calendar.
Campers explored the liturgical calendar beginning with Advent followed by Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent and Easter. They learned about each season through songs and storytelling, allowing them to tie their personal lives into their spiritual lives.
Debbie Wallace, the emcee and music coordinator, said that along with the amount of teenagers who come back to volunteer, one of her favorite parts is giving back to the community.
“It’s tremendous to see kids come back year after year and to see them as teen helpers helping the kids and wanting to spread that. They’re excited about wanting to do this for a new generation of kids,” she said. “It’s so fun to see (the little kids) making friends with Jesus and there’s so much joy in (them) where it’s infectious.”
